REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Bobby Fischer, the eccentric genius who became America's only world chess champion by humbling the Soviet Union's best but who spent his last years as a fugitive from U.S. authorities, has died at 64.A spokesman for Fischer said he died after an unspecified illness at midday on Thursday in Reykjavik, the site of his 1972 victory over Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War.Once feted as a national hero and seen by some as the greatest chess talent ever, the Chicago-born former child prodigy seemed unable to resist perplexing his public with angry gestures, decade-long sulks and outrageous opinions.Having won the world title, he gave it away again to the Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov three years later by refusing to defend it.After years of obscurity, he defied U.S. sanctions to play and beat Spassky again in former Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars. This was the match that got him into trouble and forced him to become a fugitive wanted by U.S. authorities.Of Jewish ancestry himself, Fischer claimed to be the victim of a Jewish conspiracy.After the September 11, 2001 attacks he said he wanted to see the United States wiped out. He spent months in a Japanese jail cell, and his last years as a wild-haired, shambling recluse after Iceland gave him refuge.Fischer's triumph over Spassky ended the dominance of the seemingly invincible Soviet chess system. From the late 1920s to 1972, Soviets had held the world title for all but two years.
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